Our expert answers your golf rules questions!

I can spend as much time as I want in the rule book trying to think of weird and wonderful scenarios that might happen out on the golf course.

But there is nothing like hearing what you’ve got to say, and the situations that have sent you scurrying to find solutions.

And so I turned to X and asked you for your Rules of Golf questions. Here’s what you came up with and, of course, the precious answers…

Golf rules questions: Your queries answered…

Let’s start with Lee Renshaw who has got a poser about Texas Scrambles.

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You won’t find scrambles in the 25 rules and while they generally cover what comes up during play, there are some aspects which are up to committees to set in their terms of competition.

For example, a committee can decide whether how many drives each player needs to count on the scorecard – whether that’s two, three, four – or whatever. But you won’t find anything in the actual rules that cover this.

For me, if the player has to get a drive in, they’ve got to get that in – else they will be disqualified from the competition.

If that ball is then lost, then it’s lost, but they have still hit the drive. And it still counts on the scorecard. Tell me if I’m wrong (and I’m sure you will), but I see no reason why the whole team can’t take stroke-and-distance and hit their third from the tee.

Next up is Aero…

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Careful with this one. There is nothing in the rules saying you can take relief from animal scrapings. You can read more about this below.

• Do I get free relief from animal scrapings?

Now, you do get relief from animal holes. You find the nearest point of complete relief from that abnormal course condition, no nearer the hole of course, and drop in a one-club relief area.

If the ball lands in another animal hole within that relief area, or it subsequently interferes with your lie, stance (unless a Local Rule says otherwise) or area of intended swing, you can take relief from that. It’s a new situation.

Now let’s turn to Dave Allen…

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Golfers seem to think it’s compulsory to drop from ground under repair – and some clubs do have a Local Rule that says all areas of GUR are a no play zone.

But if that’s not the case, as much as it might seem a paradox, you do have the option to play it as it lies from ground under repair.

Here’s some more about that…

• Do you have to move your ball from ground under repair?

On the marking issue, ground under repair can be any part of the course your competition committee defines it to be – whether that’s marked or not.

But it is recommended in the committee procedures, found in the back of the Official Guide to the Rules of Golf, that organisers identify GUR by using paint, stakes, or “some other clear way of defining it such that there is no doubt as to where the edge of the areas is”.

Up now is Tom Stenner-Evans…

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You can ask your opponent not to look, but you can’t stop them. And if it’s a particularly bad effort, they may very well want to get in the weeds and find it to put you in even greater trouble.

You can’t declare a ball lost. If they find it within the three minute search window, you’re obliged to go and identify it and, if it’s yours, to abandon any provisional you may have hit and deal with what’s in front of you.

There are a couple of small caveats to that and you can find out more here about what can happen in this situation…

• NOW READ: Can I stop my opponent searching for my ball?

And, for this column at least, I think we’ve saved the best until last…

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Wow Player A was in a hurry. Thankfully, the ruling can be applied with the same haste as this player’s stroke.

This is a ball in motion that has accidentally hit another person on the putting green. There is no penalty to either player.

Usually, if a ball in motion hits an outside influence you play the ball as it lies. But if it’s known or virtually certain that the ball accidentally hit another player on the green, you have to replay the stroke.

Go back to where you played your stroke and have another go!

Got a question for our expert?

Despite the changes to the Rules of Golf in 2019 and 2023, there are still some that leave us scratching our heads. I’ll try to help by featuring the best of your queries in this column.

Have you got a golf rules question you need answering? Let me know by leaving a comment on X.

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